User blog:Rinji79/Just Some Advice
Alright, I think this is something I should have done a while back. People have asked me so many times how I come out with chapters on such a regular basis, and how I can make storylines that differ so much from the previous ones. I'm here to tell you, it's not hard when you love what you do. I'm going to tell you right now that I am not better than anyone. I'm not here to brag about how awesome I am compared to anyone, nor am I here to tell you that all of your stories suck. I am here to give you rules that I follow as best I can and following these rules have given me a great insight in how I make characters, and how I use them in my stories. Now I want to share them with you. Like the title hints at, this is not something you need to take to heart, you write how you want to write, and I have nothing but respect. Still, it is a fact that I have been asked to help more than one of you, so here goes. Rinji's rules for writing well. 1 - Stop talking about your story. This use to be rule number 4, but this has to be one of the most used and abused things I have seen, on this site and many others. I know you love your story, and I know you like to hear others talk about your story, God knows I love to hear people talk about mine. However, keep this to a very bare minimum, the big problem with this is '''the more you talk about your story, the less time you actually spend writing it. '''The problem is that if you over sell it to others, and you see how little interest they have in it, the more you start to second guess it, and the less chance that you are actually going to write it. I'm going to tell you right now, the best way to write a story is to stop talking about it, and write it. 2 - Characters are your story's life blood. Your characters are the central idea, are they not? This includes the heroes and the villains. They need a past, they need a personality, and they need a mind of their own. You need to not only love your characters, but you need to make them suffer, so that we see how they handle it. We need to see them be loved, because they are living creatures, and everyone has a mother. Then we need to see them either triumph or fail, preferably both. No character is perfect, and no character is going to just win every day of their lives, that's boring. 3 - Power is not everything! The point of writing a story is to write a story, don't bore your audience with giving them the ability to travel through awesomeness to get to greatness, and destroy the villain with spontaneous gargantuan strength without breaking a sweat, sweeping a huge-boobed girl off of her feet to kiss her at the end. I cannot express enough how stupid this concept is, and yet I've seen it so much all over everywhere. If your character is too powerful, your story is just going to be showing off self-righteous crap instead of showing off an adventure which we came to see in the first place. 4 - It does not need to be awesomely epic all the time. Give your characters some downtime every once in a while, show us what they value in their off time. At the very beginning of Walk in the Rain, you'll notice I started out with Chio playing poker with a character we never see again. Why, you might ask? Because not only does it show us that they do more than just fight, but it also develops their character on a level beyond their title of pirate, marine, bounty hunter, or whatever title they're labeled with. It gives them a depth that anyone can relate to, and thus you have caught your audience's interest to a greater degree. That's always a plus. 5 - Story is different from Plot. In many, many ways is this statement true. Story is what you want to strive for in every aspect of the word. Story is what happens on a linear timeline, this may include some past elements, but we'll stick to the present for the sake of length. Planning out every single plot point in the future of your story does not leave any wiggle room, and you need that room for something to happen that not even you would expect. If you don't expect it to happen, then your reader definitely not be expecting it. Don't get me wrong, some happenings are planned, as a writer, you have every right to plan it out. I'm simply stating that it doesn't HAVE to happen as you map it out in the beginning. As you write it, if what you planned isn't going to work, then don't use it, if it is going to work, fall into place like a puzzle piece, then by all means, be my guest. But if you force these things to happen, it will lead to plotholes and out-of-character action scenes that just do much more harm to the story than if you'd gone with the flow in the first place. Just play it by ear, and you'll go far. 6 - Keep up your pace. Writing is just like a muscle that you need to work out. If you don't give it much needed exercise, then it's not going to be strong, and writer's block will be inevitable. The more you write, the fresher your story will be in your mind, and the more enjoyment you'll get out of writing it, and the more your readers will enjoy reading it. The best way to do this is to set up a good writing schedule. Of course, unless you are just out of control dedicated to it, you don't need to break your back to keep to this schedule. Like I said before, what's the point of writing if you're not enjoying yourself? 7 - Every genre is up for grabs! Isn't that awesome?! I find this to be the most inspiring aspect of the game. Action and adventure is the name of the game, of course. But then there's also comedy, which is actually pretty hard to write because everyone's sense of humor is different. But many people seem to forget that there is also romance, and as stated earlier, everyone needs love. Then, for me, my favorite genres are horror and fantasy, and I strive to add in as much of each as I can into the stories. If you include a little or a lot of each genre into your story, then the diversity will gain you a bigger range of readers, and it is going to be a fun ride through every category! 8 - Patience is not only a virtue, it's a good idea. You must have patience with your story. Rushing through every single scene to get to the good parts is just going to take away from your story, and exhaust your readers to the point of losing interest. You can't skip the boring parts, those parts are there to build suspense and give your readers the information they need and give your characters the three dimensional quality that people can latch onto for later. When you apply the knowledge into the meat among the potatoes, if you get my meaning, the action parts will have more impact, and that is always a good thing. 9 - Obviously, have some fun. I have been considered a workaholic, and with a current count of over 75 chapters, I could possibly see where you're coming from, if I considered this work. I love writing, I love discovering new things about my characters, which is why I've stuck with one central cast. If you try to take on too many tasks at once, it becomes a little more trouble than its worth, and you're not going to want to continue. Write what you love and love what you write, and you will go far in this game. This is how I love to do it, and I hope this never changes. God help us if it does. So, there are some more things that I could possibly mention, but for the sake of length, I'll just leave at that. Feel free to add any rules you would consider important in the comments, if you so desire. Thanks for reading (or skimming's fine too) and thanks for your support in the year I've been part of this site. See ya around! Oh, and PS, I'm in Korea! Whoo! Time to take Kim Jong Un down! Category:Blog posts